Are you ready to sweat?

The classic format sports drama has left movie-going audiences breathless for decades, with Oscar-winning classics like Rocky, Raging Bull, The Karate Kid, and Million Dollar Baby tapping into an emotional core that unifies anyone who has felt like an underdog with a rush of adrenaline as victory approaches. Tasting success is like a drug, and it’s easy to cheer for anyone out there trying to go for the gold because, in a whatever tiny way, we can also see ourselves out there reaching for that trophy.

There’s another brand of sports drama that aims to get your pulse racing when the competition is over, though, and it’s why films like Days of Thunder, Bull Durham, Love & Basketball, Personal Best, and The Cutting Edge have found their niche fandom. The relentless pursuit of satisfaction as a romantic partner and a competitive athlete has given these films and Luca Guadagnino’s hotter than you-know-what new drama Challengers their special podium within the sports genre. Guadagnino’s film is a rarity in that it will have your heart racing from the first frame, scorching the screen with its high-stakes game of love and betrayal set against the backdrop of championship tennis.

Told across narratives that change perspective and cross time as quickly as tennis balls fly over a net, Challengers follows Tashi Donaldson (Zendaya, Dune), a former tennis prodigy turned coach who has guided her husband Art (Mike Faist, West Side Story) into a player with the potential to go all the way. An injury sidelined her promising career, and whether she’s aware of it or not, she’s placed both her unfulfilled dreams and bitter resentment on her husband, a man she’s known since they were both amateurs and she was unequivocally a superior player. Her competitor’s fire is blazing now that Art is showing signs of fatigue after years of being pushed by his driven wife. She’s not ready to quit; he shouldn’t be either.

To get him reinvigorated after a string of defeats, they enter a Challenger event, the lowest tier on the professional tournament circuit and one with less national visibility. Thinking it will build his confidence, they can’t know they will run into Patrick Zewig (Josh O’Connor, Florence Foster Jenkins), Art’s childhood friend and Tashi’s ex.  Or can they?  Forming a complex love triangle with sharper edges than we are led to believe, the years of emotional one-upmanship are played out over a series of increasingly hostile, breathless matches between Art and Patrick that reveal how all three came to be there. The showdown between two top athletes still toned and dripping with alpha male bravado and a legendary pro who can beat them both on and off the court volleys between seductive heartache and temperature-raising triumph with effortless precision.

The undisputed current rising star of Hollywood, Zendaya delivers the kind of tour-de-force performance that should cement her status as a bankable leading lady. There’s a magnetic, mesmerizing quality to her work here, infusing Tashi with strength and vulnerability that pulls no punches and makes zero excuses. It’s a remarkable performance, and watching her move from a college tennis star in her teens to a professional adult making million-dollar decisions in the film is entirely convincing and captivating. It’s a role that requires unwavering dedication and guts – she makes it look easy.

Faist and O’Connor bring a raw sexual intensity and palpable emotion to their respective roles, nailing the fierce rivalry stemming from their deep-rooted bond. Only men who have been friends for as long as their characters have could push the buttons of their opponent as cruelly or with as much pleasure. There’s more to their relationship than we see on the surface (or what is shown in trailers), and how it crisscrosses, tears at, and ultimately conflicts with their underlying feelings for Tashi are journeys we don’t often see in films. That’s a credit to Justin Kuritzkes’ script, which has a balanced blend of tension and tenderness, serving up cutting but intelligently pitched dialogue.

Performances aside, Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash) continues to show his talent as a master filmmaker by skillfully pulling together numerous technical elements that give Challengers an advantage over other sports pictures. Truly propelling it out of the stratosphere of excellence is Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s (Call Me By Your Name) breathtaking cinematography, which puts audiences practically into the glands of the players as they sweat, grunt, and serve during a brutal summer match. The breakneck agility of these scenes is countered by Mukdeeprom capturing several gorgeous sequences (a scene played out during a violent windstorm, for instance) that could only exist in a Guadagnino melodrama.

Challengers has three distinct characters, but you could argue that the thrilling score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Soul, The Killer) is a not-so-minor fourth character who makes its presence known in a major way at crucial moments. The Oscar-winning duo have made a significant impact in the arena of film scores already, but this is a high-water mark of achievement, creating not just a sonic wall of sound that’s pleasing to the ear but, with it, the ability to control the heartbeat and breathing rate of the audience. Trust me; you’ll need a few minutes after the film is over for your body to acclimate to a regular rhythm after it’s been duly rocked by the blistering Reznor/Ross tracks.

For tennis fans, there’s a lot to love in Challengers. The game is treated with respect and near reverence because the court becomes a playground where dreams are made and shattered, where every point earned is a breath closer to greatness, and each win a triumph of human potential and focused determination. Guadagnino’s meticulous attention to detail, from Merissa Lombardo’s (Hillbilly Elegy) unobtrusive production design that nails the flatness of these wayward tournament sites and hotel,s to UK fashion label Jonathan Anderson’s costume design and the frenetic but trackable editing from Marco Costa (Suspiria) ensures that every erotically charged serve sends forth a narrative unto itself. It’s a sultry, smoldering game being played in Challengers, and Guadagnino doesn’t let us sit on the sidelines and watch.

I know Dune: Part Two may still be playing down the hall and we still have a long way to go, but Challengers is the first serious tour-de-force of cinema that has arrived in theaters in 2024. If we’re playing the long game, Zendaya should be an Oscar contender as Best Actress for her electrifying performance, and the Reznor/Ross score is already the one to beat for Best Score. Even if you don’t know your Wimbledon from your US Open, Challengers is a must-see in theaters (the bigger, the better; I suggest IMAX/Dolby screens) for fans of sports dramas that offer intoxicating blends of romance, drama, and no-holds-barred action.